Duke Nukem Forever: What went so wrong?

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The majority, including myself was expecting something great and spectacular, and after a long time waiting, got something that wasn't quite... Duke. Gameplay becoming CoD aside, we have a lot of problems present in Duke Nukem Forever that wasn't so much in Duke Nukem. The humor was one of my largest turn-offs in the character presentation. The overall game gave a more dumbed down wit than in previous games and goes through excruciating lengths so you get the joke. In the original Duke Nukem 3D, Duke made a reference or pun and you either got it, or didn't. The other problem is repetition of the same gag routine, if it wasn't funny at first, lets do it again. In this case, how incompetent EDF is... Now, I know people actually like Duke Nukem Forever, and it was an alright attempt but it just doesn't feel... like Duke... the character himself has been dumbed down... or over-exaggerated, it is inconsistent. Sometimes he felt like the old Duke but this was few and far between. Now, here's the problem though as to WHY it doesn't feel like Duke: It wasn't made by 3D Realms, it was made by individuals who were laid off from work. They were into CoD and Halo and other modern games, not Duke Nukem, thats why, even though the designs are reminiscent and loyal (they had design models to go by), the overall game is not a Duke Nukem game. This isn't the only time outsiders have touched a franchise and deviated it greatly. Regardless, the company bought the rights and sold it right away. Bear in mind, though, this is my opinion that it is "bad". But it is true that the quality isn't as great as it would have beenthanks to internal corporate meddling and cash guzzling. Duke Nukem Forever was also to feature the main antagonist of Duke Nukem 1 in the storyline concepts and could have been seen in early screenshots. Sadly this got thrown out for a more half-baked plot riddled with bad puns. I don't mean bad as in corny, I LOVED corny Duke, I mean just immature and dumb, like generic teen humor, we have enough to go around on the internet. Though, I suppose they couldn't get away with movie references and such like they did in the DN3D days due to copywrite laws? Oh well, this is just me ranting... Now, what do you all think on this? Should outsiders be allowed to touch on a classic franchise such as this? Particularly ones who didn't really grow up on or care much for? Any thoughts on this are appreciated, I'm just a bit disappointed being a Duke fan. :(